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Deutsche Welle
- March 9 2026 10: 30
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To this day, his name continues to make headlines. On Wednesday, two days before the 551st anniversary of Michelangelo's birth, new claims about his death and works emerged from an independent scholar. Valentina Salerno put forward a theory that the sculptor and painter had hidden his works of art in a secret room in the days before his death, leaving the keys to friends as part of an elaborate scheme to keep them in safe hands.
From God reaching out to give Adam the spark of life in the magnificent Sistine Chapel plaster fresco, to the grieving Mary holding the lifeless body of her son Jesus in her lap, Michelangelo's works are iconic.
Less well known to the general public are the details of the High Renaissance artist's life, a man who carefully controlled his image as he rose to become the most renowned artist of his time and, perhaps, one of the most famous of all time.
To this day, his name continues to make headlines. On Wednesday, two days before the 551st anniversary of Michelangelo's birth, new claims about his death and works emerged from an independent scholar. Valentina Salerno put forward a theory that the sculptor and painter had hidden his artwork in a secret room in the days before his death, leaving the keys to friends as part of an elaborate scheme to keep them in safe hands.
She also attributed to him a marble bust of Christ in a small Roman church.
Salerno, who based her theory on archival research, is not an art historian but an actress and fiction author who began studying Michelangelo a decade ago for a book idea. She described her findings in an email to DW as "a great story of friendship that spans the centuries" and presents a new image of the legendary artist. Her claims have not yet been peer-reviewed, and many experts did not comment after her announcement.
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However, the news prompted many people to return to Michelangelo's life and art and reconsider what we know about a man who continues to fascinate us today.
Painter, sculptor, architect, poet: a true Renaissance man
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born on March 6, 1475, about 100 kilometers east of Florence, the city where he would begin his career. While he considered himself primarily a sculptor, he was also a painter, architect, and poet.
He became famous in his youth when he came under the patronage of the Medici family in Florence. Later he worked mainly between Florence and Rome, where he executed commissions from important figures, including the popes.
His art is appreciated for its harmonious and balanced compositions, rich in anatomical detail, cosmic grandeur, and human drama.
“When Michelangelo came along, the artwork he created was really the first generation to respond to a universal message,” says Elizabeth Lev, an American art historian and Renaissance expert based in Rome who runs art tours in the city, of his influence. “He deals with the most fundamental aspects in the most daring and iconic way.”
Michelangelo as a brand
“One of the things that makes him really special is that he was a man who created a brand for himself very early on,” explains Lev.
Michelangelo, who died in 1564, was the first Western artist to see his biographies published while he was still alive.
He collaborated closely with Giorgio Vasari, whose 1550 book on the lives of artists included a chapter on Michelangelo. Three years later, Michelangelo's assistant, Ascanio Condivi, published a new biography that was essentially written by the artist himself.
Despite some differences, both biographies present a similar image of the artist not only as a master of the craft, but as a highly intellectual artist and a solitary genius, whose art seemed to emerge perfect from the beginning.
"The blood, sweat, and tears of the creative process; the mistakes and missteps we all make as we try to perfect our craft – Michelangelo didn't want these to be seen," explains Lev.
He destroyed many of his drawings, sketches, and documents in an alleged attempt to control how the public perceived the work his art required. He even went so far as to hammer his “Pietà” sculpture in Florence, known as the “Bandini Pietà,” partially destroying the statue.
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"The only reasonable answer as to why he would do this was because the work was not coming out to the standard expected of Michelangelo," Lev says of his possible motives.
A secret room
These motives also fuel the long-standing story that he burned his remaining works in the last days of his life, a story that Salerno now disputes with her theory that his works were actually hidden in a secret room.
Without claiming complete certainty, Lev points out that burning the works would be consistent with the artist’s known desire to prevent people from seeing his unfinished works. “At the end of his life we see a lot of poetry where he knows the end is approaching,” she says. “He is very concerned about his legacy.”
Regarding Salerno's theory, Lev points out that there is no mention of a secret room by Michelangelo's close friends. However, Michelangelo himself had been forced into hiding for a period of time due to a political situation that threatened his life.
Michelangelo supported the Republic of Florence, Lev explains. When it was transformed into a duchy, some people demanded his execution, forcing him to hide in a secret room under a chapel.
"That secret room makes a lot of sense," says Lev. "But that Michelangelo had a secret room where he was hiding his works? There's no evidence for that."
Given the sheer volume and scale of Michelangelo's work, there must have been hundreds and hundreds of preparatory works. However, there are not many of these known today, perhaps one reason why sketches and drawings often appear claiming to be his.
For example, this February, a sketch of a foot, identified as his work by experts at Christie's auction house, sold for a record $27.2 million.
A new day, a new Michelangelo
In other cases, even well-known works of art have only recently been attributed to him. In 2015, two art historians proposed that two bronze statues of naked men riding a lion-like animal were in fact early works by Michelangelo and the only known bronze sculptures by him.
In her latest publication, Salerno argued that a marble bust in the Roman church of St. Agnes is actually by the Renaissance master. The statue had previously been attributed to him until the 19th century; in the 1980s, contemporary scholarship attributed it to an anonymous artist.
Salerno hopes that her archival work will spur further studies.
The elegant, determined and slightly mysterious designer
And according to Lev, much more extensive evidence would be needed to establish any basis for these claims.
Ultimately, Michelangelo’s legacy will live on beyond the stories and new works that may circulate about him. As Lev points out, he took “these big concepts, these big questions, the things that each of us – regardless of religion, background or language – has inside us; we are part of these big questions, and he managed to show them with such beauty, elegance and in their essential form that everyone can relate to them.”
